Donut Boy makes special delivery to Quincy Police

Wednesday

Aug 2, 2017 at 2:55 PMAug 2, 2017 at 4:28 PM

Benjamin Paulin The Patriot Ledger @BPaulin_Ledger

QUINCY – Donning a doughnut-print superhero cape that his grandmother made him, 9-year-old Tyler Carach walked into the Dunkin’ Donuts on Southern Artery Wednesday smiling from ear to ear and began greeting the police officers that were there to meet him.

The back of his cape reads ‘‘I donut a reason to thank a cop.’’

It's a credo that the rambunctious, gap-toothed youngster has lived by over the past year as he has traveled with his mom to police departments in 16 states, giving out more than 22,000 doughnuts to officers as a way to thank them for their service.

‘‘I made doughnuts to give to cops because cops are my best friend, and I want to thank them for all that they do,’’ Tyler said.

His mom, Sheena Carach, said Tyler got the idea last July when he saw some officers in a store in his hometown of Bratt, Florida.

‘‘He asked if he could use his own money to buy them mini doughnuts,’’ Sheena Carach said. ‘‘(The officers) were very thrilled over it. So when we left the store he asked me why they were so happy over something that was just a snack. I explained to him that officers were having a hard time right now and a lot of people in the world unfortunately choose to judge a whole by a few."

Since then the boy has been on a cruller crusade to deliver the sprinkled snacks to every police officer he comes across.

He started off in his hometown and things have spread from there. His mother is thrilled with her son's lofty ambitions.

‘‘He was very persistent and very adamant about the fact that he wanted to thank every single police officer in America,’’ she said.

Carach has been on the road since June 26 and had just come down from Hudson, New Hampshire where he met with the officers of that department. After leaving Quincy, his mother, older brother and sister and himself will make their way to New Jersey and Maryland on their way home.

On Wednesday, Tyler went to the original Dunkin’ Donuts store, at 543 Southern Artery, where he was greeted by Quincy police and employees of the nationwide doughnut chain.

Tyler made doughnuts with a Dunkin’ Donuts chef. He helped to spread on frosting and covered them with colorful sprinkles.

Once he was done he and the cops loaded 20 dozen doughnuts into the back of a cruiser and went to the nearby Quincy police headquarters.

He was greeted by Chief Paul Keenan, who thanked him for the support.

‘‘Obviously Tyler is a great kid and we really appreciate him coming out and showing his support. It's a great thing for the department and also what he's doing around the country,’’ Keenan said. ‘‘There's a lot of police departments he could have picked, and we're glad he picked ours.’’

Tyler made Keenan a specially designed doughnut, which the chief gladly ate.

‘‘So much for my diet,’’ Keenan joked.‘‘It was sprinkles with strawberry, chocolate and vanilla frosting. It was awesome.’’

Tyler, who wants to be a K9 officer when he grows up, got to meet with some of Quincy’s police dogs. He also got to go for a ride a police marine unit boat.

‘‘I have such a respect for officers and what they do and for Tyler and what he's doing, and it's just amazing to see him be able to make a grown man tear up and be excited over something,’’ Sheena Carach said.